Pioneering change: Elizabeth Sarfo becomes one of Ghana’s first certified financial education trainers.

ACCRA (ILO News) - When Elizabeth Sarfo joined the Training of Trainers (ToT) workshop in June 2025, she had no idea that the experience would launch her into becoming one of Ghana’s first ILO certified trainers. Today, she proudly stands among the eight newly certified trainers under the ILO’s Global Programme on Financial Education.

© ILO/Robert

© ILO/Robert

Elizabeth works with the Department of Cooperatives under the Ministry of Labour, Jobs and Employment. After being accepted into the programme, she immersed herself in the intensive five-day ToT workshop led by an ILO regional trainer. The training deepened participants’ understanding of key financial concepts,budgeting, savings and credit, planning and risk management. “Although I am educated, the ToT exposed me to financial management concepts that I did not know,” she reflected. “I became more interested in helping to replicate this training for other people to learn.”

Supported through coaching and mentorship by the ILO certified regional trainer, Elizabeth delivered three replication trainings for cooperatives and Village Savings and Loans Associations (VSLAs) in ACCEL Africa project communities. Her efforts reached 75 people (52 women and 23 men), equipping them with the financial literacy needed to manage their resources prudently, strengthen their financial resilience, and reduce the economic pressures that can push children into exploitative labour.

For Elizabeth, this work is deeply personal. “The training moulded my life and gave me knowledge and skills to impact other people,” she said. Her commitment and passion did not go unnoticed. On 28 November 2025, after successfully completing a process that included participation in a Training of Trainers, replicating the training with three different groups of project beneficiaries at the community level, receiving and integrating feedback after each replication, and taking part in a final certification workshop, she was officially certified as a ILO national financial education trainer, marking not only a personal milestone but also a turning point for Ghana’s efforts to build a strong and sustainable pool of financial education trainers.

“I feel so proud and satisfied as I have finally achieved my dream of being certified as an ILO national trainer, and a pioneer too”

Elizabeth Sarfo

Looking ahead, Elizabeth and fellow master trainers plan to form an association of certified ILO financial education trainers dedicated to supporting workers at the lower tiers of supply chains. She intends to continue training cooperatives on financial management to help workers better plan their income, support their children’s education, and ultimately contribute to eliminating child labour.

Elizabeth’s story is one of passion, perseverance, and purpose, proof that empowering one trainer can empower entire communities.

She expressed her gratitude to the ILO ACCEL Africa project, financed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands,in Ghana for the investment in her and supporting her replicate the knowledge across ACCEL Africa project communities.